Holcomb Happenings

Alfalfa is in

{ 06:51, Wednesday, October 15, 2008 } { Link }

Monday night Harold raked and baled the last of the alfalfa. It wasn't a lot, but it is good alfalfa. I helped Harold pick up the bales last night. Josh couldn't help because of his breathing. He is still using the nebulizer. Emily drove the tractor for us. She is getting really good on driving the tractor. While we were doing that, RaeAnne made dinner. We had a crustless pot pie. We decided to do biscuits instead of the crust. We also cooked up one of our butternut squash. I was surprised how good it was considering we just picked them last week. Usually we wait several weeks until we start eating them as the flavor gets better over time.

My Quilt is done

{ 08:42, Monday, October 13, 2008 } { Link }

After having completed the top of my quilt 6 or 7 years ago, it is finally done! It was harder to hand quilt as I used a wool batting in it. It was real thick in areas, so it was hard to make even stitches.

I quilted stars on a white background using white thread.

Sunday

{ 06:46, Monday, October 13, 2008 } { Link }

Harold's work is gearing up for the holidays. They are working on Sundays now. We knew there was a chance of this when he was switched to days. He does get home in time to where we can go to church at night. We got someone to cover our Sunday School class.

We had the wood stove going most of the weekend. It has been cold and windy. The kids have been inside a lot. I have lost track of how many games of Gusher have been played. It is suppose to warm up to 70º on Friday.

Today I need to do some laundry. The sun should be shinning, so I will hang them up outside. I have another box of grapes to juice. I also want to can the jalepeno peppers.

Turkeys

{ 05:37, Saturday, October 11, 2008 } { Link }

Last night Harold and I went grocery shopping. We left the kids at home. We did get some rain, but not to much. Boise got over an inch of snow.

Today we got up late. I was getting ready to fix breakfast when Josh reminded us that we had to take the turkeys in today to be butchered. The place is only a couple of miles from us, so it isn't to far to take them in. When we got home, Harold and I ate breakfast. The kids had eaten already.

I did a couple of loads of laundry today. We hung one load up outside to dry in the wind. The other is hung up in the living room. I have a clothesline from one side of the room to the other side. I then hang my clothes on hangers on the clothesline. The heat from the wood stove gets them dry. I don't mind having them in my living room as long as they don't hang there to long. I haven't used my dryer for 4 or 5 years. In fact, we moved it out to the barn last year.

Supper tonight is chicken noodle soup. I cooked an old layer hen in the crockpot yesterday. I heated that up today and then added carrots, celery, onions, and noodles. We will have Jalepeno cheese bread and whole wheat rolls to go along with it.

Harold got the door for the wood cook stove done today. It looks good. He worked on a cap for the chimney. Every time that it rained, the water would come down the pipe and get everything wet. We still have a little piece of pipe to put in before we can use it. I worked on grape juice today. I am juicing the green grapes, and they don't seem to be as juicy as the concord grapes.

The last of the Tomatoes are canned!

{ 03:32, Thursday, October 9, 2008 } { Link }

Today we juiced the last of the tomatoes. I have some to eat fresh, but we got 3 1/2 quarts of juice. The girls diced up the bell peppers and put them in the freezer.

I finished quilting my quilt for our bed. Now I need to do the binding and sew that on. The kids are playing Gusher right now. With the weather being colder, they tend to want to stay inside and stay in the living room where the wood stove is going.

We are going to have Beef brisket tonight with mashed potatoes, tomatoes, cabbage, and veggies. When Harold gets home, we need to move the pig to another pen. We need to shut off the automatic waterers for the animals. They are predicting some rain and snow for the next few days.

Josh had a phone interview today with Berea College. His transcripts should have gone out today to the college. Hopefully he should hear something in the next few weeks.

Frost

{ 08:07, Thursday, October 9, 2008 } { Link }

We had frost last night. The windows of the car were iced up and the cut alfalfa in the field is covered with frost. Yesterday the kids and I brought in the squash, pumpkins, and watermelon. The squash is put away in the bin in the shop. We found this was the best place to keep it. The onions are in the bin above the squash. The pumpkins that I want to cook are in the shop on the floor. I will cook those soon and put in the freezer.

Yesterday I cooked tomatoes down and made 17 quarts of juice. The girls picked the rest of the tomatoes yesterday, so I do have some more to do. I still have four boxes of grapes to do and Harold figures another 8 boxes or so still on the vine. Those left on the vine might be a little sweeter with the frost last night. I also have some peppers to deal with. I have one grocery sack full of bell peppers that I will just dice up and freeze. The other 2 sacks are Jalepenos and Anaheim peppers. I might try pickling them.

Tuesday

{ 09:11, Tuesday, October 7, 2008 } { Link }

Today we started out with Dentist appointments. We left soon after Harold did this morning. Once the cleanings were done, we went to a couple of stores in town and took a walk around Indian Creek in Caldwell. We then went to the library and came home to finish up school.

I worked on grapes again. The concord grapes are done. Harold picked four boxes of the green grapes today. I guess I will keep busy. I still have tomatoes to juice. We need to get everything picked from the garden by Thursday or Friday night at the latest. We are suppose to get below freezing.

Tonight Harold and I picked squash at a neighbors place. They didn't want anymore, so we will use it for pig and steer food. I think most of them are crosses of different types of squash, so they aren't really that good to eat. We have to get our butternut squash and pumpkins in to the barn.

Busy Weekend

{ 08:33, Sunday, October 5, 2008 } { Link }

RaeAnne and I went to a memorial service for a man in our church on Friday. He was 92 when he went home to be with the Lord. He lived for the Lord and served Him. It really makes you think about how to live your life and if we are living for our Lord and Savior.

I baked some rolls to take to the dinner for the family after the service. I was running out of time, so Harold brought some Rhodes Texas Rolls home from work and I baked those up Friday morning. I took 3 dozen to the dinner and delivered a cake from a friend of ours who lives out our way, but was not able to attend the service.

Josh, Emily, and Josie had to finish up school on Friday. After supper Josh and I mowed the lawns. We were suppose to get rain this weekend, and it hadn't been cut for almost 2 weeks. We finished just before it was dark.

Saturday morning we got a late start to the day. It threw everything off. The girls started their Saturday chores. One girl cleans the living room, one cleans the three bathrooms, and the other does KP. Josh helps with supper dishes.

We had at least two different Thunderstorms roll through on Saturday. The first one had hail that was at least 1/4 inch in diameter.

Josh and Josie worked on getting the root cellar cleaned and ready for the potatoes that we dug this past week. The small ones and the cut ones were put aside for the pig and steers. Josh cooked some over the fire in between the storms.

Emily, RaeAnne, and I washed grapes. I canned 18 quarts of grape juice that day. It takes awhile using the steamer/juicer, but the juice sure is good. In between grapes, I made 5 loaves of Rye Bread. It sure doesn't last long around here.

We had some for supper along with Chili.

Sunday we went to Sunday School and Church. We had a great lesson on Abraham offering up Isaac. You sure get more out of the Bible when you study to teach others. After Church, a friend came home with Josie. We had Swiss steak, mashed potatoes, corn, lettuce, and tomatoes. By the time dishes were done, we made some tuna sandwiches to take to church. Our Church had their Walk for Life for the Nampa Pregnancy Center. We walked two miles with others from the church. After we were done, we went back to the church to eat.

Grape Juice

{ 06:51, Thursday, October 2, 2008 } { Link }

Today was cooler. It was overcast almost all day. The sun has come out now for about an hour or so. RaeAnne has today and tomorrow off for teacher in service days. She helped me with the grapes today. We juiced 12 quarts today. Harold and I picked another four boxes of grapes to juice tomorrow.

Emily and Josie picked all the onions up from the garden. They are on the shop floor now to finish drying before the go up in the bin. We are suppose to get rain this weekend. We did get some today, but not much. We sure do need the rain here. We are hoping to get one more cutting of alfalfa.

Emily, Josie, and I finished getting all the good potatoes out of the trailer. This weekend we will get the ones in the root cellar sorted. Now that we have these potatoes, we will take some of the small potatoes and put them aside for the animals. We cook up a lot in a barrel over the fire and the animals like them. That will help stretch the pig food.

We were going to have beef pot pie tonight, but ran out of time. We ended up have beef soup with garlic bread and yogurt. We will have some watermelon for dessert later.

More Potatoes

{ 07:55, Tuesday, September 30, 2008 } { Link }

Harold stayed home from work today. He was aching and not feeling well. That always throws the day off. Josie still isn't the best. Her eyes hurt and is stuffy. We did school.

The girls were done with school early that they were able to wash grapes for me to juice. I have 23 quarts so far. I am using some of my 2 quart jars for the juice. My last batch of grapes is in the steamer/juicer on the stove. It is just about done.

Harold had to return a trailer to a friend, so the girls and I went with him. On the way home we stopped to glean more potatoes. We got enough to last the year and then some. We will go through all of ours and take the really small ones and put to one side. We cook those up outside and feed to the pig and steers in the winter along with immature squash that we cook.

Potatoes

{ 07:37, Monday, September 29, 2008 } { Link }

This morning Josie woke up not feeling to good. I think the beginnings of a cold. She did school, but tried to take a nap in the morning. She is doing a little better now, but time will tell.

After RaeAnne's piano lessons, RaeAnne, Emily, and I gleaned potatoes in a field. We got 5 5 gallon buckets full. We might go get some more tomorrow.

Supper tonight was a tater tot casserole and green beans that RaeAnne made. It was good.

Saturday

{ 06:37, Saturday, September 27, 2008 } { Link }

Last night we went to a Foundations in Genesis meeting. While the subject was good, it was very hard to hear the speaker. It was on Secrets of the Ice caps.

Today Harold and I went into town and bought some more paint for the barn and chicken house. I think this should be the last of it. Harold and Josh worked on painting while the girls washed the grapes and I juiced the grapes. So far, I have 10 quarts of grape juice. I have another batch of grapes to juice tonight.

Supper tonight was taco soup, cornbread, cabbage salad, and tomatoes.

Yeller

{ 07:36, Friday, September 26, 2008 } { Link }

This morning when the girls were doing breakfast dishes, Josh let the dogs in the house. After a while I noticed that Yeller wasn't downstairs. I had heard him go upstairs, but none of the kids were up there. I thought he had come down. I asked Josh where Yeller was. We both called for Yeller. He didn't come running. We went upstairs and he was in the dark starring at Emily's big bottle of bubbles. He knows right where she keeps it. His favorite thing to do is to jump and get the bubbles that the kids blow.

Grapes

{ 07:37, Thursday, September 25, 2008 } { Link }

The past few days have been busy. I cleaned out our wood stove in the living room on Tuesday. Yesterday morning we had our first fire. It sure felt good.

I have been working on our quilt for our bed. I made the top several years ago and started quilting it last year. It has a wool batting in it, so it makes it hard to quilt.

Tonight Harold and I picked four boxes of concord grapes. I will start juicing those tomorrow or Saturday. Tomorrow is grocery shopping day and Josh has to get immunization shots. I need to get those done before he turns 18 in a few months.

Tomatoes and Applesauce

{ 07:08, Tuesday, September 23, 2008 } { Link }

The last two days have been busy. Besides school, I canned 18 quarts of tomatoes. Tonight we finished canning 14 quarts of applesauce. Besides some tomatoes left in the garden, which I will juice, I just have grapes left. I am not sure how many quarts I will get. I will can some of the seedless grapes in pint jars to be eating canned or in salads. I will try drying some more, and then juice the rest. A few years ago I canned almost 250 quarts of grape juice. I don't think we will get that many this year.

RaeAnne had piano lessons yesterday. While I waited for her, I finished crocheting a hot pad. While we were on our camping trip I finished a dish cloth. It took me a long time to finish it. I definitely don't go as fast as my mom. She made several of them when they were out for a visit earlier this month.

Camping

{ 06:50, Sunday, September 21, 2008 } { Link }

We went camping this weekend. The kids got their school work done early and we left Friday morning. The weather was nice on Friday. The girls and I enjoyed a creek walk in the afternoon. I took their picture beside the creek.

We started to get some rain Friday night when we were getting ready to go to bed. It rained most of the night. The kids woke up wet. It finally stopped raining just before noon. The sun came out and the kids enjoyed being out of the tent trailer. The girls forgot to bring their water shoes, so they had to dry their shoes a few times.

That night for supper we had polish sausages, chips, beans, and brownies. I cooked the brownies in the dutch oven. We were able to use the tripod to heat some water for dishes.

I was hoping to use the dutch oven the next day. We wanted to have Mountain Man's Breakfast. I ended up cooking that inside as it was raining. We wanted to do Hobo dinners for supper, but again it was raining. I was prepared so that I was able to cook inside the trailer.

RaeAnne took this picture of the storm coming in on Saturday. We had rain again that night. The creek rose about a foot or so from Friday afternoon to Sunday morning. We got home and had to set up the trailer and tent to dry. We also found out there was a lot of rain here at home. We had to take a detour only a couple of miles from our home as the road was closed. We do need the rain.

Supper tonight is beef steaks, scalloped potatoes, green beans, and tomatoes. I guess it will be back to school tomorrow.

Busy days

{ 07:27, Friday, September 19, 2008 } { Link }

We have been busy the last several days with school and canning. I canned 33 1/2 quarts of peaches on Wednesday. That brings my total up to 200 quarts of peaches. I guess we will be eating a lot of peaches. Yesterday I canned 11 1/2 quarts of plums. That is all the plums we had on our tree.

Emily and Josie picked tomatoes yesterday. I will juice those when we get home. Then the grapes will start. Most of the grapes I will juice. I will dry some for raisins. I also want to can some of the seedless ones for eating.

Peaches

{ 07:05, Tuesday, September 16, 2008 } { Link }

Harold picked the peaches from the trees in the yard a few days ago. I canned 15 quarts of peaches today. I have 5 more boxes to go. I also have a couple of boxes of apples to do. That may have to wait until we are back from camping.

RaeAnne helped me make an enchilada casserole for supper. We also had cantaloupe and a lettuce salad. While the girls did dishes, I cleaned up the pantry cupboards. I have 3 different pantry cupboards. One is our old laundry area between the kitchen and our bedroom. One pantry holds my metal bowls, stock pots, and my canned goods that I keep in the house. The other one holds the empty jars, store bought canned goods, and some utensils.

The Entertainer

{ 08:09, Monday, September 15, 2008 } { Link }

RaeAnne started up piano lessons again after taking the summer off. She played The Entertainer for her teacher today. She has worked on this the past few weeks so that she could get her new books. Here is RaeAnne playing the song. I am not sure how to do a link, so you will have to copy and paste into your browser. Note Emily and Josie were being funny with the dishtowels in the background.

http://s423.photobucket.com/albums/pp314/jrejhkids/?mediafilter=videos

I didn't get any canning done today. I have peaches to do tomorrow. Today was spent doing some catch up on school and trying to get ahead so we can take Friday off for camping.

Emily made most of the supper tonight. We had Creamy Chicken and Noodles, corn, cantaloupe, and a wonderful lettuce salad with carrots, peppers, and tomatoes. We are going to have watermelon for a snack.

September 13

{ 08:28, Saturday, September 13, 2008 } { Link }

Harold and Josh left this morning at 6:00 to go to an airshow at Mountain Home. They picked up a friend of Josh's to go with them. They had a great time.

This girls and I left a little before 7:30 to go grocery shopping. We got home a little after 9:00. We then worked on canning. We canned 4 1/2 quarts of pears and 31 quarts of applesauce. I had one jar that didn't seal, so I will make applesauce muffins in the morning for breakfast.

I didn't have time to make lasagna tonight, so RaeAnne added more meat, beans, tomatoes, onions, and bell peppers to last night's leftover chili. It was still hot. I made some biscuits to go along with it. We had tomatoes and watermelon to round off the meal. This watermelon was picked from our garden on Tuesday and put in the cooler. Harold weighed it on Wednesday, and it was 30 pounds. We just about finished it off tonight.

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